Snow keeps Surrey and White Rock crews busy

Surrey’s operations manager Rob Costanzo says city crews were caught off-guard with Monday’s ambush of snow, but a seasoned staff has “hit the ground running.”

“The forecaster was calling for rain then turning to freezing so we did have our full contingent of crews out dealing with the salting operation, making sure the roads had enough anti-icing materials for the morning rush hour,” Costanzo told Peace Arch News Tuesday morning.

“The snow arrived in the early hours of Monday and we were quite surprised.”

He said all of Surrey’s major routes were in “great shape” Monday morning.

The city continued to deal with arterial routes Tuesday by removing snow that remained in the left-turn bays or on the side of the road. Costanzo said secondary routes will be completed in the next few days.

“Things are going fairly well, we’re quite adapted in dealing with snow removal. We have a seasoned staff that have been dealing with snow and ice management for a number of years,” he said.

The City of White Rock sent snow-removal crews out at 1:30 a.m. Monday morning.

According to the city’s website, major roads, bus routes, and emergency access routes are the priority locations.

The city says it regularly monitors two major weather forecasters and dispatches equipment as needed to plow and salt the roads.

The city has four single-axle dump trucks with plows and salters, two backhoes and one walk-behind snow blower in its fleet.

Since the beginning of December, the City of White Rock has dispersed more than 264,000 pounds of salt, according to its website.

The city is requesting that people respect road closures, which are often due to slippery conditions on steep roads.

White Rock property owners and occupants are required by city bylaw to clear snow and ice from sidewalks surrounding their properties by 10 a.m.

A representative from the City of White Rock did not respond to request for comment by PAN press time.